Shares in British engineering giant Weir Group rose on the back of market chatter that a cash-rich private equity consortium in the US is looking to table a 2,500p per share break-up offer for the group, compared with current prices at around 1,800p.ITV continued higher on Thursday's raised price targets from Berenberg, JP Morgan Cazenove and Nomura.Precious metal miners such as Fresnillo and Randgold were in the red as gold and silver prices weakened.Friends Life declined a reversal from yesterday's gains on the back of strong full year results ahead of a planned merger with Aviva next month.Vodafone, who today announced a minimum global maternity policy of 16 weeks with full pay, was also trading lower. RisersWeir Group (WEIR) 1,823.00p +4.83%Sports Direct International (SPD) 682.00p +1.56%BG Group (BG.) 935.10p +1.40%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,028.50p +1.38%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,166.00p +1.30%ITV (ITV) 244.10p +1.29%Shire Plc (SHP) 5,250.00p +0.96%WPP (WPP) 1,547.00p +0.78%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 279.90p +0.76%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 990.50p +0.56%FallersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,635.00p -4.16%Intu Properties (INTU) 348.50p -3.78%Fresnillo (FRES) 709.00p -3.73%Hammerson (HMSO) 669.00p -2.76%British Land Co (BLND) 841.50p -2.43%Anglo American (AAL) 1,138.00p -2.28%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 550.00p -2.14%Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,264.00p -2.09%Vodafone Group (VOD) 221.85p -1.94%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,225.00p -1.83%
